The Projects
by Two Sides of The Story
Summary: I know I was never meant to be born, I was an experiment. Something made from a test tube, a mistake with no purpose. I was a lab rat, my father has told me that too many times to forget. I know there are others like me out there, more than there should be. We were all part of a diabolical plan. We were projects. -Max Rated T for mild language


**Hi **

**This is my first story, so feed back would be great (criticism is welcomed and probably needed :D) Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, because if I did I probably would be a man named James Patterson**

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**Epilogue **

**Iggy**

Soccer was easy for him. It was _his _sport, everyone in school knew that. So when he was out on the field it didn't matter if he was blind, because out there -in that field- it was almost as if he could see- actually see. Kids would call him The Blind Beast, he tore that soccer field up, his footwork and ball control were that of a professional's, fast and fluid. He made it hard for the other players to actually follow the ball. That's what's wrong with people who could see, they only ever used their eyes, they never used their gut instincts.

Iggy tied his cleats perfectly and stood in one fluid motion; today was the championship game, and he was ready. He felt the vibration of foot steps near him and he immediately knew who it was: Coach Troton.

" Iggs get your blind ass on the field. You're our best player tonight so I want you to give it your all."

The coach didn't need to help Iggy onto the field, because Ig already knew where it was; he could feel a large mass of vibrations in a certain direction where Iggy could hear the rustling of nervous kids before the game.

Iggy wasn't nervous. He rushed onto the field and a loud roar rippled through the crowd on the bleachers

"The Blind Beast!" Chanting was a ritual for his school before each game and Iggy loved soaking up the attention. He whooped and hollered to the people and continued to jog to the center of the field. He was a striker and settled next to his Sam, another forward. Sam was good at soccer, but Iggy was better. Before the game, Iggy had another ritual- and no it was not for him to go streaking- it was to call something deep inside him- something he used on special occasions. He started counting down from ten and closed his eyes. 10 9 8- _this better work_ he muttered to himself- 7 6 5- there was a sharp pierce in his left temple and Iggy grinned , _it was working -_4 3 2- the whistle blew, Iggy opened his eyes and he could see

" One"

**Fang**

Black, everything was black. Where was he? Even with his freakishly good eyesight Fang could not see. It was so _dark_. He heard pounding, was that his heart? His door flew open and a shadow shaped as a person stood in his room.

_Oh._

Gazzy, his adopted younger brother, flipped the lights of his room on and Fang could now see. God, he was such an idiot, he couldn't even tell a nightmare from reality. Silently he got out of bed and looked down expectantly at Gazzy, who was still standing in the doorway. Gazzy looked at his feet, " Can I drive with you to school?" It was a quiet request, almost as if he was afraid to ask his own brother a question. Maybe they weren't related by blood, but they were still apart of a family. Fang sidelong glanced at Gazzy, waved him away, "Yeah, yeah sure, now get out of my room." Gazzy murmured a soft " Thanks" and left. Fang sighed running a hand through his hair, opened his dresser, and blindly grabbed a pair of dark jeans and a colorless sweatshirt. Fang was not ready to go to school. Everyone expected him to be bad; to get on a teacher's case, skip class, or to prank some loser kid, but he really didn't want to do any of that. He wanted to lie low, he was too different to have any attention drawn.

Fang grabbed his sneakers before going downstairs. When he got to the kitchen, Gazzy was at the table eating cereal and his mom was cooking something for dinner. His dad had already left for work an hour ago. Kids said that Fang had bad parents and they were the ones behind the terrible things he did, like they were the ones making him vicious. That was certainly not true , although they were not his real parents, they still treated him like he was their own son. He didn't truly know who his real parents were, but maybe they were the reason for him acting out of line. Fang's foster parents never told him who his real parents were and he was glad 'cause he never wanted to hear about them again. They were sick- evil.

**Nudge**

Nudge was in the doctors office. She hated it. The waiting room was small and unfortunately Nudge was claustrophobic; she would never tell anyone that, it may mark her as a freak. She was disgusted by the smells, the harsh chemical odor that stuck with her for weeks. And she despised the doctors. The way they wore their creepy, I'm-your-friend-no-really-smiles and how they spoke too you as if you'd be forever two years old. The needles, the liquids, the coats, the gloves. She hated every single thing about the doctors. It was so-

The buzzing of her phone woke her from her daze. She whipped out her phone, thankful for whomever was stopping her from spiraling into some seriously depressing thoughts. _Tracy _was flashing on her screen and immediately she took the call. Nudge spued out everything she wanted to say, " Hey Trace, why'd you call me, why not text? And if it's about that sale at PacSun I'm already going. I'm at the doctors and the smells are seriously nauseating. So what's the dish?"

Tracey spoke, " OMG, you'll never guess what happened to me today!"

Nudge rolled her eyes, " Lemme guess Danny asked you out?" Tracey squealed over the phone and it was piercing to Nudge's sensitive ears.

"I know isn't it great? He is like one of the most cutest guy in school and the captain of the lacrosse team. Ugh I hope this relationship lasts..."

Nudge let her rant on about how great this would be to boost her popularity, although she really didn't need to. Any other day, Nudge would be talking it up with Tracey but today was an off day for Nudge. Her parents had to go to several meetings for work and Nudge, with her newly found license, had to go drive herself to the appointment with a ridiculous note saying why her guardians couldn't be here. She clutched the arm of her uncomfortable chair tightly and she watched as her knuckles turned white. Sixteen and she was still afraid of the doctors. How pathetic. It was hard- her life. She had to balance popularity and being a total freak with accessories to make sure her secret wasn't ever getting out.

**Angel**

Mommy said she wasn't allowed in the basement. Not now, not ever. Angel didn't know why. Her mom, a foster mother with four other children and a grumpy husband, had made sure Heather, Sophie Xavier, Eric, and Angel- especially Angel- did not go down stairs. Her mommy had brought all the toys upstairs so none of the kids had to waste their energy retrieving their little stuffed animals or plastic dinosaurs from the basement. But Angel, being the extremely smart little six year old was, knew that wasn't the reason for it being off limit.

It was a cold autumn day her mom left for work and her dad was watching an old movie from the 1940's. Angel grabbed Celeste, her immaculate white bear with wings and a halo, and held it by the hand. She padded down the stairs and into the kitchen. She rounded the corner and found Xavier sitting at the table reading a comic book. He was a year older than her and he was Angel's best friend. His grey eyes peered down at her.

" Are you alright?" He asked, his voice unusually concerned.

"Yeah, why?" She looked at him with her big blue eyes and smiled.

"Because you have a big bug in your arm pits." He did this every morning right when she woke up, he called himself the tickle monster. He re reached under her arms and started to wiggle his fingers and Angel giggled uncontrollably. No matter how many times he did this it would never get old. When he stopped she hugged him good morning and left the kitchen and went into the hall. Today Angel was finally going to discover what was downstairs in the basement. She rounded the corner where the big door loomed over her and just from the sight of it Angel got the feeling that something terrible was on the other side. She did not feel ready but if she wanted to find out what was behind that door she'd have to open it. She curled her tiny fingers around the handle and eased it open.

**Gazzy**

"So... how's school?" Fang asked, covering up the silence with his lame question. Gazzy knew something was up, Fang pretty much never talked. He looked over at the dark clothed boy and say the disheveled hair and bags under his eyes. He was having nightmares again.

"Good, I guess," Gazzy answered half-heartedly. He sighed and took to watching the bare trees outside and the gray sky painted with clouds wiz by. The sky, if only he could be there now. Gazzy rubbed the back of his neck and rolled his shoulders. He heard a pop; _better _he thought. His name Gazzy was just an alias, his real name was actually Zephyr. When he was in the foster home, St. Mary's, the kids there had a rude awakening. His farts were diabolical, disgusting. But everyone loved him for them. His friends at the house would call him the Gasman, aka Gazzy. Still everyone made sure to stay away from him on taco night. Gazzy almost laughed at the thought of his past, but stifled it when he remembered Fang was there. He liked Fang, really, but Gazzy was afraid of him in the way people just off of probation are afraid of cops. I guess Gazzy could say, though, it was vice versa; Gazzy was the cop and Fang was the bad guy.

He hadn't meant to, Gazzy hadn't meant to see Fang on the roof of the house, alone, with a paper bag next to him. Gazzy figured that in the bag was a beer bottle or one of those cheap wines, but he'd never know. And Gazzy never wanted to find out. He actually felt a little relieved when he saw Fang up there on that roof. He was a freak like Gazzy.

**Max**

We were moving again. Ella, Mom, and I. And all because of me. My mom, she wasn't angry, just concerned. I was becoming more dangerous, and she knew my progression wasn't going to stop any time soon. I don't know how long ago she looked at me as if I was a freak but I knew soon I was going to get that frown of her mouth only meant for me. Ella was mad, that kind of mad you get when your little sibling sneaks into your room and reads your diary or whatever, the kind of angry that wears off. When she had found out that we were moving she had stomped her feet ( exaggeration), and whined, " Again, but I just got new friends." I guess it was hardest for her to move around all the time; she was a regular teenage girl as I should be too, but I'm not. Bummer. Each time we moved it went like this: hide from attention, go to school, challenge my extremely enhanced brain, try to _not _beat up kids. Yeah that was the hard part. Everywhere there seemed to be some idiot or idiots who want to pick on little ol' me. And being me, Max, I would have none of that. Keeping a low profile was aside from people getting under my skin; if I tried hard enough I could be invisible, a phantom person in a group of kids. I had changed my name from time to time, Gabriela( Ella picked out that one), to Lola(not to happy about that one either). The different covers were usually to throw _them _off of our track. My real name though is Maximum Ride also known as Max (Maxie is unacceptable and if you call me that I will not listen to a word you say). Exercising my brain, on the other hand, is hard in a different way. I guess you could say I'm smart; I know a lot, like text book a lot. I don't study, so it's almost as if the knowledge had been programmed into my brain. Mom says it's just genetics, pfft, I don't believe that. How does genetics even affect how much you know?

Suddenly there was a banging on my bedroom door and I leaped from my bed and the current thoughts whirring in my head were cut short. The knob turned and someone jiggled it from the other side. Good, it was locked.

"Max! Do you have my hair curler in there?" It was Ella, had she finally decided her stupid no-talking-to-Max phase should stop? I walked over to the door, but decided not to unlock it. " No I don't, check the bathroom. I think I saw it on one of the shelves." I walked away from the door heading to my dresser to pick out an outfit for school. Blue or Black-

"_I think I saw it on one of the shelves," _Ella's muffled voice came from the bathroom and I could hear by her mocking tone that she was copying me. I rolled my eyes, wow Ells _real _mature. Then she spoke even lower, muttering to herself, " Yeah, right, I know she took it." I laughed to myself, then called out, " I can hear you!" I caught the sound of her groaning. Sometimes Ella forgot that I had freakishly good hearing- I grabbed my back pack from off a hook- I guess I had Jeb to thank for that.

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**Hope you liked it. R&R**

**-Sapphire **


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